On Sunday, the president tweeted his demand for a review of whether law enforcement began probing his campaign for political purposes. Justice Department leaders responded by asking the inspector general to expand a previously announced review of how the FBI handled the case, but it’s unclear whether that will satisfy the president, Chris Megerian writes.

The paper reported about an Aug. 3, 2016, meeting during which George Nader told Donald Trump Jr. "that the princes who led Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were eager to help his father win election as president." Furthermore, the paper reported, social media specialist Joel Zamel "extolled his company’s ability to give an edge to a political campaign," and his company drafted a multimillion-dollar proposal for a pro-Trump "social media manipulation effort."

"The meetings, which have not been reported previously, are the first indication that countries other than Russia may have offered assistance to the Trump campaign in the months before the presidential election," the New York Times reported. The meetings are under scrutiny by the Mueller team, the paper said.

With a little more than two weeks to go until voters make a pivotal choice in who they want on the November ballot in the race to be California’s next governor, Trump weighed in.

The president’s endorsement of Republican John Cox could have major ramifications in the June primary, Seema Mehta and Phil Willon report. Cox, who did not vote for Trump for president in 2016, and Assemblyman Travis Allen of Huntington Beach have each been trying to consolidate the GOP vote in a bid to come in second on June 5.

Trump’s nod could be particularly notable to the 4.5 million Californians who voted for him. It’s also a major blow to Allen, a favorite of many California conservatives whose presentation of himself and his policy is reminiscent of the president. (And for the record, Allen says he did vote for Trump. )

Half a dozen U.S. representatives and senators have already been driven from office over sexual misconduct allegations, but Capitol Hill appears to be reacting differently to the recent accusations against Rep. Tony Cárdenas, a Democrat from the San Fernando Valley who flatly denies the allegations as the invention of a disgruntled former staff member.

Meantime, a judge has ruled that attorneys can name the Los Angeles politician accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl in a recent lawsuit, and serve him with the lawsuit. Cardenas, of course, already has said he’s the politician, and that he is being wrongly accused.

With election day two weeks from tomorrow, both major parties are hammering home broad themes in races from governor to Congress and beyond. No topic seems as talked about among Republicans as illegal immigration.

Starting in 2020, all new homes in California must be equipped with solar panels. But there’s one very real concern, George Skelton writes in his Monday column: California is mired in a housing crisis. Buying a home already is unaffordable for far too many families, and now the state is going to add the cost of a rooftop solar system to every new home purchase. But forcing all buyers of new homes to go green could be prudent, desirable and inevitable, Skelton says.

TODAY’S ESSENTIALS

— This week’s California Politics Podcast takes a closer look at TV ads from some of the biggest races across the state this election season.

— On paper, California's "top two" open primary made sense: When one political party dominated an election, the weaker party could support a consolation moderate, Skelton wrote last week. But the whole theory collapses if voters are so polarized that they refuse to vote for any candidate from the other party, he writes.

— California voters are being asked to weigh in on new borrowing, new government restrictions and a drought-friendly tax break on the statewide primary ballots that will be counted June 5. Here’s our quick overview.